SEPTEMBER 19, 2007 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Art Gallery Dedicated, Named In Honor Of Mary Ellen Suitt
Spartanburg Native Has Been Longtime Supporter of SMC

(View photos from the dedication, ribbon cutting)

SPARTANBURG -- Dedication and naming ceremonies were held Wednesday at Spartanburg Methodist College for the Mary Ellen Suitt Art Gallery. 

The Gallery, located in the Marie Blair Burgess Library, is named in honor and recognition of Suitt, who is a Spartanburg native and a longtime friend and supporter of the College.

“I was very surprised and pleased to receive such an honor.  I do think the school serves a unique place in the community. It has such a wonderful faculty and very talented students,” says Suitt. 

Suitt’s generous support of the college’s fine arts program has helped to provide awards at the annual student juried exhibit and to purchase student artwork for the SMC permanent collection. Several of her own works are on display in the Art Gallery. 

 “It is a great privilege for Spartanburg Methodist College to honor Ms. Mary Ellen Suitt by naming the SMC art gallery in her honor.  For many years, she has been a generous friend of our students, our fine arts program, and the College as a whole.  Ms. Suitt’s paintings are recognized by patrons of the arts and the public at large as a ‘must have’ when collecting the outstanding art in the Upstate of South Carolina.  It is a pleasure to display some of her many paintings in our Mary Ellen Suitt Art Gallery,” says SMC President Dr. Charles Teague. 

Ann Wenz, Professor of Art and Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies at SMC, says, “Naming the Art Gallery in honor of Mary Ellen is the ultimate way of thanking her for her support of the art program at SMC.  She is a wonderful artist who has assisted in many ways to strengthen the arts in Spartanburg.” 

Suitt is a founding member and past president of the Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg. She is a member of excellence of the South Carolina Watercolor Society. Her works have been selected for many shows and have received numerous awards. The majority of her work is on display at the Carolina Gallery in Spartanburg.

She is a graduate of Spartanburg High School who earned degrees from Stratford College, in Danville, Virginia, and the Ringling School of Art, in Sarasota, Fl. Her post-graduate work was conducted at Converse College and the University of Arizona. 

During 31 years as a cartographer with the U.S. Soil and Conservation Service, Suitt composed and drew maps of several countries, including many of  Italy and Japan for the U.S. Army and Air Force. Some of the maps she drew in Spartanburg were used for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during World War II. 

Spartanburg Methodist College is in its 96th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning. 

For more information, please contact Brian Fulkerson, Director of Public Information, at (864) 587-4254. 

###